Tears
by Materia-Blade
Summary: My attempt at a Ranma is locked in Girl form Permanantly fic. Two years after being cursed into a girl, Ranma's pride is all but gone. In contrast, Genma, has finally become who he should have been to start with.
1. Prologue

After much thought on the matter, I realized something. As a writer my favorite type of Ranma fics involve ones, to the chagrin of many, that portray Ranma's girl form. I don't know why. I really don't understand it at all. However, I realized that I have never written a straight fic from the "permanent" genre. So here is my attempt. Warning Angst fest.

Disclaimer: So... like, since Rimuko Takahashi owns Ranma 1/2, but everyone else uses it... does that mean Ranma 1/2 is like... a prostitute? Well, I don't own the series but i'm using it. Hah hah!

* * *

**Tears**

The girl walked onward, solemnly. She was always "solemn" or "downhearted" in one respect or another. Her life had known nothing more than pain ever since the age of fifteen.

She was seventeen now. And could care less in all honesty. Two years she had searched for the cure to the hated "curse."

Suddenly a sign appeared in front of her face.

"Come on child. Let's have a go..." It said.

Her father had become an expert at, "sign writing" ever since he had been cursed into the form of a panda and could now produce, manufacture, and print a sign in under one second. Quite impressive for one who chewed tires for enjoyment.

Ranma smiled. "Aight' Pops."

Her father, who had once been a snob, pig, and all around jackass, had somehow morphed into a caring and almost loving father. It was too bad he was a panda. It was odd how her depression had changed him. It had been a slow change for the oaf that was Genma but it had happened. As Ranma slipped into depression, sometimes crying her-no himself to sleep at night, Genma's true care for his Son-turned-Daughter had appeared.

Her fist flew in a motion faster than the speed of sound. The bear blocked it expertly and back-flipped away from the young redhead.

Ranma smirked. Even as a girl, she never lost.

She flew forward at an alarming rate, and suddenly zoomed to the right, circling her opponent, who, in turn, was circling her.

"You're gettin' slow old man!" She cried with one of the grins that Genma worked for. She suddenly reversed directions, surprising her panda.

Genma's eyes widened for a moment before his daughters leg impaled his stomach sending him careening backwards towards a tree. His large back and body absorbed damage much better than even his human body had. That had been, however, a very good kick.

Genma hobbled up. He was proud of his daughter. She was the best. There was no doubt about that in his mind. He only sparred with her now to raise her confidence a little. She was becoming hopeless. It was true, that he'd given up hope long ago... but his change wasn't as bad as hers was. Oh sure, she was still human. But, for his son, being turned into a girl was worse than anything. All his life Genma had drilled the idea of the weakness of girls into his Son's head.

Ranma had become a girl. Genma had treated his daughter the same way he had treated his son for the first six or seven months. They roamed the countryside, seeking cures and finding none. Genma had been as hard on his daughter as ever, constantly calling him things like M'boy, and Son, on his signs.

Ranma knew that it was just a gesture to keep his hopes up, but it hurt when Ranma realized that there existed, within the panda's eyes, looks of... disappointment. "Pop... why do you always look away when you call me, "Son" now?" Ranma had asked.

Genma had not wanted to answer. He had walked off but Ranma simply confronted him again, this time more desperately.

"Pops! Tell me why? Why are you still so disappointed in me! I'm the best aren't I? I'm... I'm still your SON aren't I!" Ranma had cried.

"Of course you are M'boy." Genma sighed. Even as he said it, disappointment crossed his features as he looked away from his redheaded daughter.

Ranma knew that something had become different. Her father... was not proud of her.

That night, Ranma's will finally cracked. All the months of failure... months of "that time of the month" occurring just making her father ever more disappointed in her had finally gotten to her. That night, she lay on her futon. It started with only a small sniff, but it had awoken Genma. "I'm... I'm sorry... P-pop." Ranma stuttered through snivels and tears. "I guess I am jus' a... a... weak... pathetic... little... girl... I've... I've tried my best! But... I'm weak now... a girl. Just like you alwa-"sniff" always t-told me. I want to be a man again... I want to so much... to keep you proud like you used to be, but... but... It's so hopeless..."

Genma heard every word, as his daughter cried. As such so did he.

From that day forth Genma resolved to be the best father to his daughter that he could be.

And slowly...

And surely...

Fearing for her personal well being, he came to again respect his child. As she slipped further and further into depression, his main goal became her happiness.

China was a big place and they had only covered about a half of it in their travels seeking a cure.

Genma hobbled up from his beaten and bruised position against the tree.

"You're too easy old man." Ranma said with less then half the life she had once put into her confident words.

Ranma, having found that the factors beyond her control had changed her father's opinion of her, had obsessed over her martial arts. Improving by leaps and bounds over what should be considered humanly possible.

"Heh, you're just too good for my old bones, Ranma." Genma's sign replied.

Silence was Genma's answer.

"Ranma..." Genma began.

Ranma looked at the panda in a sheepish manner.

"Why, pops?" She asked suddenly.

Genma wasn't exactly sure what Ranma was talking about but she was glad to inform him.

"Why can't I make you proud of me... why did you stop... why did you stop... stop calling me... "M'boy?" Ranma asked depressingly. "Why?"

What Ranma didn't understand was that, Genma had finally out-grown his prejudices. He now WAS proud of his so... child. He had been forced to outgrow his prejudices. His son was the best. But his daughter was "THE" best. What parent would not be proud of a child like that? No... now the depressed look Genma had when he praised his child was, not because of his disappointment in Ranma. No, it spawned from his own disappointment in himself.

"Ranma Saotome." Genma's sign read. Ranma couldn't stop the tears. She sat on a nearby boulder, her short frame not allowing her petite legs to touch the ground. And for the first time in her life, she cried in front of her father. She was completely and utterly, hopeless. Hopeless of attaining her manhood, and in turn, hopeless of obtaining her father's respect.

"You make me more proud than any parent could possibly hope to be of their child, Ranma. A day doesn't go by when I hate myself for the teachings I bestowed upon you. Ranma... you must know that women are no weaker than men are? You defeat me hands down in combat every day!" Genma applauded.

"It doesn't matter!" She cried. "I'm not your SON! And let's face it! I NEVER will be!"

"That's not-"

"FACE IT POPS!" Ranma exclaimed. "I'm gonna be a ditzy, silly, weak, pathetic, GIRL for the rest of my pathetic life!" Ranma cried, through tears of pain and anger.

And Genma did something he had not done in a very, very long time.

Ranma suddenly found herself in the most comforting embrace she'd ever been in. And, as yet another first, Ranma cried on her father's shoulder.

She didn't know it... but that day, something happened. That day, her life would change forever...

* * *

I hope you liked it! I know it's kinda short but it's just a prologue. May or may not get longer in the future. 


	2. Another Begining

OH! I… Um.. I… well… wow. I mean it was just a little prologue. Only 1300 words. It wasn't very special! But for some reason my good reviewers thought it deserved thirty eight reviews! WOW! I um.. Thank you! 

Author's note: Remember, Ranma will be a little bit OC compared to the norm in this. Two extra-years of Genma and Ranma can't remember the last time her father was proud of her… at all. Realize this please!

And without further ado. The FIRST Chapter!

Enjoy!

**Tears**

* * *

**Chapter One: Another Begining  
**

* * *

Ranma left the embrace slowly, wondering what had possessed the panda that was her father to hug her. It was true that she had needed it a lot but… it was odd for him. 

Nonetheless it made her feel a HELL of a lot better! But it was nothing compared to what the panda did next.

"I have faced it Ranma. I know you may never be a man again and I have come to accept that. If you are a woman till your dieing day, you'll always be "M'boy" to me. I am proud of you, Ranma Saotome."

* * *

The Planet Barasus 

One Thousand Years Ago…

A young maiden was limber and agile with her work. She was the best at what she did. It was too bad that her job was among the lowliest. Her Heiriram, or the person who was paying her for her services(if you could call her pathetic wages pay) was not at the house at present.

The stone buildings reeked of decay and rust. It was a castle, if a small one. She was simply one of many servants who worked in it… day in and day out.

It was a boring and meaningless life and the young house tender always dreamed of more. Matter of fact, that was what she was doing at that very moment.

"RAYILLA!" Came a sudden shout. "Get your head out of the clouds and get back to WORK! I don't pay you to daydream!" Her Heirirald, or her Heiriram's wife, ordered. The woman was evil and destructive by nature. She ordered Rayilla around at the drop of a hat, and to keep her job, Rayilla had no choice but to obey.

"Yes madam!" Rayilla jumped, banging her head on the low ceiling but snapping to attention nonetheless, ignoring the aching pain beneath her orange hair.

"You're a foolish girl! Just as your mother was, and just as your damn daughter will be." The Heirirald insulted.

"My daughter will be no such-" But Rayilla never managed to finish her sentence.

Suddenly the stone wall blasted open. Stone shrapnel flew in all directions, blasting forward like rockets. Rayilla managed to not be killed by any of the large ones and only took a few cuts and bruises from the little ones.

Her dead Heirirald was not so lucky, as a gigantic stone has literally "knocked her block off."

It was then that she realized she had a watcher. A young man, dressed in outlandish yet, tolerable clothing. He was a terrifying sight to behold. Muscled beyond reason, and of a darker color than what her countries Hierarchy would have considered to be normal. His yellow eyes seemed cruel and dark, as if planning something horrible. Though the thing about the man that frightened her the most, was a deadly looking, blood-covered falchion that he held in his right hand.

"That is her." The he said as he pointed towards her.

Suddenly, the man lunged at her, swinging the bloody blade faster then her eyes could follow._" _

I'm going to die." She heard in her mind.

Suddenly everything slowed down to her. The man zooming forth to destroy her seemed to slow down in front of her, moving slowly and awkwardly.

_"He's going to kill me."_ Her mind told her again.

His anger was fierce and his eyes burned with cold and undying hatred as his slowly flew towards her.

"NO!" She cried.

A yellow barrier erupted around her and d ark man screamed as he collided with her new-found power.

The man flew back and slammed into the stone floor, hard enough to create a small crater. Rayilla looked on, having seen it all in slow motion, slack-jawed and amazed.

And with that, the barrier was gone, and slowly, the man stood on his feet once more.

"The Queen… bah! Is that all you can do? Your predecessor from five millennia ago was so much more powerful than you are now. Calivyrns are such weaklings during their adolescence…" The man "tsked" dejectedly. "I'm sad to say that you will not be alive much longer… _Your Highness!_" The man sneered with outright contempt.

"I'm sorry!" Rayilla begged, slumping to her knees. "I'm not a queen! I don't know what your talking about! I don't have any idea what's going on!" She begged more.

The man walked closer raising his blade high.

Rayilla gulped and prayed silently. "I… I have a daughter… please… please don't ki-kill me…" She stuttered, terrified.

The dark man hesitated. He looked away, and Rayilla noticed a tear slipping down his right eye. It was the last thing she noticed before her head was severed from her body.

"Damn this hell…" The dark man said sadly. "She didn't deserve this. It's no mere human's fault if she becomes the next Aquavyrn. "Why do they not cease to return…?" The man asked of no one in particular. He looked down at his bloody falchion and spoke, saying. "Come Crine… we've ruined enough lives this day."

And by some small stroke of luck, the man didn't notice the golden tear that fell off Rayilla's corpse's cheek, and into the stone floor.

A silver beam of light erupted upward from that point exactly, flying into the upper stratosphere and then through the dark depths of space.

And the head of Rayilla whispered, "The Aqua Tree lives on…"

With that, the body of Rayilla disappeared.

* * *

Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts was something she had not been in a very long time. Elated? Joyous? Happy? These words didn't come close to her feelings. 

Her father was proud of her! PROUD of her! He… he hadn't said… he.. He'd never… said that before.

It probably had something to do with how he had come to refer to himself as a she. It wasn't as if she had meant to! It just… it just happened! Her pop never called her "M'boy" anymore. And everyone else she ever talked to her seemed to think she was a girl. True, she was. But…

"He's proud of me!" She thought in the place of the "I'm such a failure" she had begun thinking on. If he was proud, then she surely wasn't a _complete_ failure!

Ranma now felt as if she were failing her father even more by feeling so much… _feeling_ about it! It was just a little sign of compassion! It was nothing to get worked up over yet here she was, smiling and laughing, inwardly at least, like some GIRL!

She couldn't help it though. She'd never been happier. She'd known that her pop cared for her. She'd always known that. And he'd started treating her like… like she assumed a father should treat a daughter. Though he was always on the lookout for a cure, he watched her depression and happiness more. Giving her a pat on the back when she was down.

But now… now… it was all different! He was PROUD of her! Even as a girl!

"Damn!" Ranma exclaimed, as she glared at the involuntary tear falling down her face.

"Grrorw?" Genma questioned.

Ranma couldn't help it. It wasn't a crying hug, but she turned and hugged her pop again. It was very quick and she left it as fast as she had begun it.

"Come on pop! Show me what you've got! I want a good fight!" She cried after she placed her legs on his enormous stomach and bounded off backwards.

Genma, who had been taken entirely unawares by his… daughter's embrace, smiled. How could this have made her so happy?

Ranma's father noticed something odd for a moment as he fell into a fighting stance. His child's cheek had a tear on it. Something he had grown to be able to forgive. But it was the tear that struck him as odd. Was it… sparkling? Glowing in fact? Gah, old and incorrect eyesight due to his… species… must have been playing tricks on him. As far as the fight went, he gladly obliged her. He gave her all he had and more too. But he was still no match for the petite red-head.

A bruised and battered Panda awoke the next morning lying in a tent, to the pleasant sound of a campfire burning outside, and a perfectly cooked meal of plain rice and bamboo at his right. He peeked out of his tent and, for a moment, watched his charge as she cooked her own rice. He smiled again, thinking greedily for a moment of how he could use this to get Ranma to cook for him all the time… then forcibly _destroyed_ the thought. "Damn my greedy ways…" He thought bitterly.

He walked outside. Actually, limped would be a more accurate word for his mode of travel. He set the rice down beside Ranma, who looked confused.

"I don't deserve it boy. I'll take the bamboo just because you can't eat it, but I don't deserve you to cook for me when I sleep." Genma's sign read.

Ranma looked ready to protest but a stern look from Genma stopped her. For once, she didn't jump to argue as she normally would have.

"How long was I out?" Genma asked sternly.

Ranma sighed sadly at the rice, feeling as if her Father did not like it. However, she answered, "About a Day."

"Foolish boy! What do you think your doing? Go rest! What in the world do you think your doing! Cooking on your own birthday! Go! Go now! Let me finish this!" Genma said in a grand total of three signs with an angry scowl on his face.

Ranma smiled. "You… you know about my Bi-"

"Of course, boy! And it's not much but if figured you'd like it so here!" Genma's sign read, in a mock-angry way. He handed Ranma a scroll of paper. "These are forbidden techniques. They are forbidden with good reason and are only to be used in the most dire of situations."

As Ranma looked over the scrolls her jaw dropped in amazement. "It.. It's an entirely new art!" Ranma cried. Yama-sen-ken and Umi-Sen-Ken. The sheer creativity and flexibility of the two arts, just on first glance, astounded Ranma!

"Th-thanks Pop!" Ranma exclaimed.

Genma, treating Ranma as he would have if nothing had changed two years previously, waved Ranma off with a paw an impish grin. "Yes yes! Now go rest! I'll expect you to be in top condition this afternoon when I begin to teach you."

Ranma didn't know what to say. Why? When had her father become so… fatherly? Well, not quite fatherly but... caring at the least. He had forgotten her birthday the previous year.

She walked into the tent, a grin on her face from cheek to cheek. She laid down and began resting, every now and then, reaching out and eating a little of the rice bare-handed.

Meanwhile, Genma pondered his behavior as he tended to the rice. . His greed, his good, his… fatherhood.

He hated that he had come to think of his son as his daughter… but it was pointless to argue with himself about it. She wasn't his son anymore and so far, all evidence pointed to him remaining a her for the rest of his life. Failure after failure after failure had been awarded them for their efforts. Genma swore if there was a god or goddess of failure he would CURSE him or her in the afterlife!

But for now… the joy on his child's face was more than enough to keep an old panda happy.

Two or so hours later, Genma took a sign and peeled of the wooden post, leaving just the plank that said "Happy Birthday, Ranma" on it, and hurled it into the tent, directly where Ranma's head was.

At the "OW!" that bellowed from within the tent Genma chuckled at his Daughter. "DAMN YOU, PO- You… hey…" Was the next sound that came.

A human wouldn't have been able to catch the mumbled phrase that came next.

"Kindhearted bastard…"

And suddenly the red-head propelled from the tent, slamming Genma across the campsite skidding along the ground the entire way.

* * *

It was a rainy night. The stone streets and alleys of London were scarcely populated. Lightning flashed across the heavens and the crack of thunder followed not a moment after. 

Suddenly, a woman appeared, alongside two men, walking down one of the more secluded alleys. Their black boots splashed through the puddles carelessly as they conversed. They wore old clothing that appeared to be what would have been worn during the days of Rome, or possibly during the Reign of Charlemagne.

The woman was of an average height, standing probably five feet and seven inches from the ground. She had black hair that hung down to her mid back. Her eyes shown a cruel yellow. Her skin was fair, yet covered mostly by what appeared to be armor. A black cloak flowed at her back, which under she wore a brown tunic and a black undershirt. Her baggy pants, faded blue pants were tucked into her boots. As she walked, the golden rings around her arms bounced furiously with her quick pace. Had she not been dressed so oddly she would have been considered gorgeous.

The first man was younger, taller with a much more handsome face than the other. Though both had the same black hair and yellow eyes as the woman, both of them had it unruffled and short. There dress was also similar to the woman's save for the rings. The younger man wore, around his neck, a collar, golden in color, that appeared to dance whenever the lightning stuck. Behind him hung a scythe of the highest caliber and quality.

The last man was shorter, yet burly and over-muscled. He had a beard that had been shaved within the last week at least as it was not too long, and not to short. Behind him, hung a deadly looking double-sided axe that was just shorter than he was himself. He looked older than the other man or woman by many years.

"It's begun." The shallow, timid, voice of the female said. "It's started again. After all this time… she has re-awakened. She always was the first. The Queen of the Vyrn is _ALIVE_! Shortly will follow the Vyrn court."

"So it has begun. The pact of old will be renewed. Those of us who lived our long immortality will meet again. We will form our alliance and defeat the Calivyrns… as we have done before. As we will do again. This universe was not meant to be ruled by gods and goddesses." The stronger, burly man said.

"You fool! If not gods and goddesses then what are we? We who are immortal? The Council of Twelve? With our manipulating ways we have scoured these systems seeking the Calivyrns and their queen every time they are reborn among the Humans! We rule humans as if they were dogs and fear only the Calivyrns. What does that make us, Kruthian?" The younger, less broad toned, male said.

"What do you propose, Nathaniel? Should the Rekin die? You know what happens if we die! The Calivyrns and their Queen will be reborn! Have we not sought the prevention of this for seven millennia?" The one known as Kruthian replied angrily.

"But there would be peace." Nathaniel replied. "It is not the Calivyrns who cause wars any longer. It is us."

"Pshsst! Surely you jest! They slaughtered your family in front of your eyes, Nathaniel!" The timid, female voice interrupted.

"I can get over a pain seven millennia old if it would lead to the end of this madness, Carmine!" Nathaniel cried, stopping as the lightning lit the blackened alley again. "Seven Millennia of destroying the queen upon her rebirth. I am tired… I want to grow old… get a wife and have a child... a family... that is... one that I wouldn't have to kill every time the queen is reborn. These humans would be just like us if we laid down our immortality… As would the ones on Reath, where Hector, Clamed and Dismal were sent!"

"Until their rebirth no longer occurs you will be one of the council of twelve." Kruthian scowled. He snorted and turned back towards the path and continued walking.

Nathaniel sighed. "Wait." He said suddenly.

Kruthian turned around angrily. "What now?"

Nathaniel's scythe was in the air before any normal human could see it, raised towards the sky and Kruthian at a sixty degree angle from the ground. "Death to the Queen." He said sternly.

Kruthian smiled, as did Carmine. Instantly, Kruthian Axe clanged against the Scythe's bladed edge. "Death to the Queen."

Suddenly a third blade joined. Carmine held a rapier that had been concealed in her cloak, up to where the Scythe and Axe had clashed. "By my blade Phi."

"By my blade Garagoth." Kruthian said.

"By my blade Sheen." Nathaniel uttered.

Then as one they chorused, "Death to the Queen."

With that, they sheathed their weapons and continued walking towards the east in silence, trudging through the pouring rain as their clothing became more and more soaked.

* * *

Ryoga Hibiki was in a state of utter elation. After two years… two years of being cursed into that awful pig form, he had finally been freed. Freed, freed at last. 

"Wow… you are a well equipped one…I might need to extract some, ehem, _extra services_ from you." The girl who had cured his curse winked.

She was short, about five feet and four inches, and had long green hair. She wore atop her head, a circlet with a small green gem in it. On her back now resided the staff she had used to cure Ryoga. It was an oak staff with yet another green gem at the top of it, which the wood was carved around and held in place. She wore a deep blue cloak that had a hood, pushed back and hanging behind her neck. Her similarly dark blue vest left her breasts scantily covered and her pants, which were full of rips and holes, showed more of her beautiful skin than they showed cloth. Her boots were pointed at the ends and seemed to be over-worn and over-traveled. Either way, she was a rather attractive girl.

Ryoga fell to his knees. "You can have anything you want! Anything to pay you back for curing my curse!"

Ryoga reached around his back seeking a backpack. Finding none he realized he had nothing to pay her with. "Um… I'm really sorry but I don't have anything to pay you with…" Ryoga trailed off as he noticed something odd about the girl. She was looking at him oddly. There was an evil smirk in her expression and her eyes appeared to be lingering on… on…

"EEK!" Ryoga exclaimed as he stood and covered his private areas instantly.

"Oh no you don't!" The girl exclaimed. The staff on her back whizzed in front of her. She twirled it around a few times and then, shoved the bottom into the ground. The Green gem in the upper side of the staff, glowed brightly. "Your GOING to pay me back…"

Ryoga suddenly found himself frozen… literally. He couldn't move an inch as the girl's hands slowly drifted downward.

"I! We… I! But! We can't do THAT!" Ryoga exclaimed.

"Why not? Your buddy here seems up to the task…" The girl smirked, pointing downward, indicating that something would happen whether he approved or not.

"B-but! But I don't even know your NAME!" Ryoga exclaimed. He had JUST become a man again after TWO YEARS! Walking was going to be difficult let alone the… things that this girl implied.

"If you must know, my name is Makiri." The girl sighed in slight disappointment. "And with that she bent to the ground and began to do the most perverted thing that had ever been done to Ryoga in his life.

Ryoga's willpower quickly shattered as he and the young witch, who had been his savior and was now his lover, eloped.

For the first night in Ryoga's memory, he forgot about his grudge against the evil, red-headed girl who had kicked him off the mountain, into the cursed waters of Jusenkyo.

* * *

Seven days later, Ranma and Genma were finally at a coast. They had been aiming for the upper coast of China, near the sea of Japan, though why, Ranma did not understand. 

"Pops, can you tell me why were headin' up north? I mean, we've been this way twice… Why come here a third time when we could head towards Tibet? I've heard there are a lot of mystics and stuff there!" Ranma exclaimed.

When Genma didn't reply and just kept walking in front of her, she became confused. "Pops?"

Then angry.  
"POPS!" She yelled.

"Boy." The sign appeared over the Panda's shoulder.

"Uh huh?" Ranma asked.

The Panda stopped in the middle of a clearing. He turned around and looked at his red-headed child. "Twice we've been up this way, and twice I've failed to take the trip. But this time I won't. Ranma, I want to go to Japan. I don't know if we can find a cure there… but I do know something." Genma said in a total of seven signs.

"O… kay..?" Ranma asked. "What is it?"

"Your mother, boy. I want to see her again. I've been a coward and a fool. I wanted to bring you home and see her two years ago but… well…" Genma wrote.

"A M… mother? I got one a' those?" Ranma replied, confused. She put her chin in her hand and thought hard, trying to remember a woman from her past that she once called mother.

"I don't remember…" She said. "And she surely won't accept that I'm her son. Pops?" Ranma asked. Something was wrong with Genma.

"She can't… Ranma… when I took you, when you were two years old, I made a contract with your mother. I told her that… if I didn't make you a "man among men" then you, I, and her, would commit… Seppuku." Genma told his daughter.

The fact that Genma's was telling this through signs made it less realistic to Ranma, however, the slight watery tint to Genma's eyes doubled it's realism.

"… You… you really are an idiot… pop…" Ranma muttered.

Genma turned around, his face to the ground he walked away and revealed on the ground the written words "Gomen Nasai."

Ranma sighed and placed her hand up to her head in an exasperated position. Genma looked at her and was frightened by how similar she looked to her mother.

"Humm… what're we gonna do pop?" Ranma asked, tiredly.

"I just want to see her… and for you to meet her…" Genma said. "At least for a little while."

Ranma walked up to her father and looked him in the eyes. "Well… lets hope I get cured on the way ok? But if not… perhaps she can settle for a daughter…"

"I hope so boy… I hope so." Genma said, waving the sign twice for the repeating effect of speaking. "Lets go."

With that, Genma ran towards the sea of Japan, swimming far faster than many a normal panda could.

"You are such an idiot, pops…" Ranma muttered before following.

As she swam, she looked at her father… The panda held a sort of grim determination on his face. His eyes held sorrow.

"I forgive you pops." Ranma said.

Genma didn't act like he heard her but he did suddenly speed up, as if not wanting to see his daughter, due to his shame.

* * *

Nodoka felt odd… her daughter, Ryaine, was scowling. It seemed that the little girl was angry. She had plenty of reason to be, of course. But she suddenly seemed more angry then she had been a moment ago. 

She thought about it for a moment and realized what it was that was making the red-head so angry. The sunset. The girl HATED the sunset. Nodoka couldn't for the life of her, figure out why. But the girl did hate the sunset.

She was walking down the road towards her home with her daughter trailing behind her happily, when suddenly the girl had begun to scowl.

"Ryaine…" Nodoka began.

"Sorry mom." Ryaine interrupted. "I know I know… nothing is wrong with the sunset… I just don't like it…"

"Good girl… perhaps your growing up after all. No daughter of mine should be afraid of the dark." Nodoka said.

Ryaine snorted. "Jus' don't like losin' the light…" she muttered, inaudibly.

After a moment's silence Nodoka sighed and began, "I'm sorry, Ryaine… I didn't want to tell you the truth so I hid it from you."

"Nice time to tell me, mom! Nice to know I'm the production of a rape! So is Genma just an illusion? Genma and my brother Ranma? Just an elaborate joke that I'm suppose to throw away?" Ryaine screamed, her long red hair swaying with her shouts.

"NO!" Nodoka replied turning on her daughter. Then much more calmly she said. "Genma and Ranma are real… and they will be home one day… I know it."

Awkward silence.

"I… well… I'm sorry mom. But… why couldn't you have just not told me?" Ryaine asked sadly.

"You needed to know the truth, and you are old enough to handle it now. " Nodoka said. "Either way, you're my daughter and I love you as such. Don't forget that. And once again… happy fourteenth birthday."

Ryaine smiled. "S-sorry… mom. Thanks."

"It's alright dear." Nodoka replied. "And your welcome."

* * *

Tatewaki Kuno flew through the air yet again as Akane walked up the steps to Furinkan High school for the first time in a long while. "Two years and he's still at it… you'd think he'd'a given up by now, eh Akane-chan?" Akane's lover, Sayuri, asked curiously. 

"You would think so. Heh. Back to school at last for one final year. I hope it's good one, eh?" Akane replied.

"Oh, cept' for Kuno, I'm sure it will be for us both!" Sayuri winked devilishly.

Akane kissed her on the cheek and then said. "See ya! Gotta go or I'll be late!" And with that she went to class.

It was looking like it would be a great year!

"Hurry up Akane!" Ryaine cried. Ryaine was Akane's best friend, though she was three years younger than her, and not to mention a rival in all the areas that counted. She sat in the back of the room, holding a seat for Akane.

Ryaine had been upped three grades due to the fact that she was the best! She managed to make the things in this grade, that is, calculus and advanced physics, look as easy as addition! The poor girl was a fourteen year old senior! Either way, she was excruciatingly smart for her age.

Akanesat down in a hurry, placing her books haphazardly onto the desk."Happy late birthday, by the way!"She exclaimed.

Ryaine didn't look very happy about it. She almost looked angry. "What's so happy about _that_?" She muttered angrily.

"I'm… sorry? Ryaine? What's wrong?" Akane asked.

Ryaine sighed and then placed a faked smile on her face and said "Oh… nothing. It's not important. How was your summer?"

"It was great!" Akane replied, and then went on to tell Ryaine all about her summer. Ryaine cheered up quite quickly, but Akane couldn't help but think that something was making her friend a little… sad.

* * *

**End Chapter**

* * *

Once again, thank you for all the reviews! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! This fic is not just a fluff fic! Ha ha! 

**Next Chapter: Duet of Blue Eyes **

**Reviews aid me in my quest for good writing. Criticize, Check, Praise, or Flame. I like them all! (well… flames leave me a little bit crispy so if you could, just stick w/ criticism...) Please leave a review though!**


	3. Duet of Blue Eyes

Well, not as many this chap but I'm still impressed! Thanks for reviews! 

Enjoy!

**Tears**

* * *

**Chapter Two: Duet of Blue Eyes**

* * *

The beach was a hot one. It was the end of summer and school was beginning to re-open all over Tokyo, so fortunately the beach Ranma and Genma arrived upon was not quite as populated as it could have been. 

Needless to say, however, it was populated. And many a person feinted with shock when a Panda held up a sign to them, inquiring them of the knowledge to the whereabouts of the Nerima ward of Tokyo.

It was much easier for Ranma and Genma to acquire the needed directions when Ranma asked, as she was technically human.

"Tokyo's to the southwest… bout two hours drive yonder that'a'way." said an elderly man, when Ranma questioned him.

"Thank you very much!" Ranma replied with a formal bow. The bow was accompanied by her Panda who stood a few feet behind her.

The man was impressed, to be sure.

Ranma and Genma set off towards Tokyo on foot. If they went fast, two hours drive could be the same as about ten hours, speed walk.

The trip was made in silence as both of the two had little to say, until suddenly Ranma broke the silence.

"Pops…" Ranma questioned suddenly.

Genma moved in step beside his daughter and replied with a casual sign, "Yes?"

"I was… well I was wonderin'…" Ranma asked slowly. "Wondering… what my mother was like?"

Genma's bear face spread into a wide grin. "She was beautiful… had almost an exact copy of your face. Her hair curls completely different. When she was younger she and you would have been twins… now her hair is an off-red sort of brown… as if it faded with a little age… or at least that's what she looked like when I left her…" Genma said.

Ranma frowned… she had actually wanted details about her personality… not her appearance… but that would have to do.

"Ok." She replied dejectedly.

Genma noticed this but kept silent, knowing that whatever he said would make whatever problem Ranma was having, worse… his words had an odd way of doing that.

They arrived in Nerima around six thirty. The sun still stood in the sky, shining down in that beautiful, yet annoying way that it does whenever everywhere you look you're blinded by it.

"So where do we go pops?" Ranma asked.

Genma's sign replied simply, "Just follow me."

They walked for about seven more blocks into this strangely calm city. The sight of an enormous panda bear, though odd, didn't seem to frighten people as it should. They appeared to be more in a state of shock then actual fright.

Sooner or later they came upon a walled off, expensive looking home in a more secluded section of the ward. The house was enormous, and the lawn was… for lack of a better word _enourmouser_ A small pond decorated the backyard, while a slim path led to a dojo that held a sign reading "Saotome School of Indiscriminate Grappling." The cobwebs adorning the entrance signaled that the place was rather unused.

"Welcome home Ranma." Genma's sign read. With that, the panda proceeded to hop into a tree and climb to the very top of it. Ranma followed silently as a young woman walked out of the front door.

"Groowwwf." Came a low, longing sort of moan from the Panda.

"Is that…?" Ranma began. At Genma's nod it was confirmed… this was her mother.

"The woman looked up into the bright, setting sun, fortunately not at them and then turned back to the house. "Ryaine, aren't you supposed to be somewhere?" The woman turned and shouted back into the house.

"Going! Going!" came a quick reply from a voice that sounded so similar to Ranma's that Ranma thought she had spoken.

Ranma rushed out of the house. Or at least Ranma thought that Ranma rushed out of the house. Granted it was a Ranma with long and unbound hair falling down about her shoulders, wearing a red skirt and shirt that had no similarities at all to the REAL Ranma's Chinese clothing. But the similarities were uncanny.

"Boy…" Genma said suddenly.

Ranma glanced at him for a moment and then said "Pops… do I have a-"

"Unbound your hair boy… I doubt it. Your mother would never betray me for another man… I know it." Genma's signs read. Then he repeated "Unbound your hair."

Ranma did so, and let her long red hair fall… it was a lot dirtier than the girl who stood below her… It didn't have the same luster and gleam as the girl… Ryaine had. However, there was no doubt that it was the same color and so incredibly similar that it would be hard to believe Ranma and Ryaine were not sisters. Ryaine had not filled out as much in the chest department, nor was she quite as tall as Ranma was. But those were the only differences.

Ranma moved forward to one of the outermost branches of the tree for a better look.

"-back in two hours, at nine o'clock." The woman known as Nodoka was saying to her daughter.

"Rraowr," Genma muttered, trying to get his son's attention. Ranma paid him no heed as she traveled further out the branch.

"RAOWWR!" Genma growled slightly louder but still received no indication that Ranma had heard him at all. Ranma's eyes lay transfixed on the woman that was her mother, and the girl that appeared to be a younger sister.

She felt odd with her hair unbound, caressing her shoulders… she didn't like it very much either but at the moment it didn't matter. Another branch closer… another… another… SNAP!

"OW!" Came the great yelp as Ranma banged her arm on a limb and then slammed face first into the dirty ground beneath the tree.

"Crap…" Genma thought. He bounded away… it would be very odd for them to find a Giant Panda in their tree along with the girl who looked so similar. Also… Genma was on the verge of tears… how could his wife? How could she have… have…? And for her to have a child so old! Did she remain faithful to him for only a year…? Maybe two? That… that… whore!

Genma disappeared into the words on the outskirts of Nerima as Ranma and Ryaine locked eyes.

"My word!" Nodoka muttered as she looked at the dirty girl who was wearily raising herself from the ground.

"Aw Damnit! Argg! I liked this shirt!" Ranma cried as she stared at her ripped shirt. She coughed and sputtered a little bit of dirt from her mouth, glanced at her arm and shrugged at the bruise. It was just one of many. She stood and then stared into the eyes of a slightly shorter version of herself.

"A-are you alright?" Nodoka asked in a sort of shocked tone.

"Ye-yeah…" Ranma replied, not taking her eyes off of Ryaine.

Ranma and Ryaine began to circle each other… each inspecting the other in almost the exact same way. It was a scary sort of mirror effect.

"Who are you?" Ryaine suddenly asked cocking her head to the left.

"Who are you?" Ranma replied with a question of her own, using the same motion.

"Ryaine Saotome." Ryaine replied casually as she stopped circling.

"Miss, what is your name?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma tore her gaze away from one set of blue eyes, only to look into a face that was freakishly similar to her own as well. Similar in an older to younger sort of way but similar nonetheless.

"I'm Ran-er…"

Suddenly Ranma remembered what Genma had told her a few days previous. _"She can't… Ranma… when I took you, when you were two years old, I made a contract with your mother. I told her that… if I didn't make you a "man among men" then you, I, and her, would commit… Seppuku."_

"-Really late! I'd better be going! Sorry to bother you!" Ranma exclaimed.

With that Nodoka was greeted with an act that she hadn't seen done since her husband had left her sixteen years ago. The girl bounded upward to the upper most wall and then forward out of sight into the sunset, towards the north.

"Who… was that mom?" Ryaine asked, in a confused sort of tone.

"I… I think it… it might be… Well… she was so… similar…" Nodoka thought of how the girl had fallen from the tree, bringing back a memory of a time when she first met her husband.

* * *

Nodoka was young… about seventeen. She was beautiful, with long red hair, just like her mother had had… and her mother before that. It was a strange trait within the girls of the family. 

Many people thought her odd for her strange habit, but every sunny day when the sun was going down, Nodoka would come out to the front of her home and stare at the eastern sunset. She had always done it and she assumed she always would, no matter where she was.

It just so happened to be something she was doing at this very moment. The sun was almost half way down… half way visible from where the walls circling the house ended.

Suddenly she heard a loud "THUD" on the ground and glanced over to where the sound had come from. There she saw a young man… right around her age, lying in the dirt beneath an old oak tree.

"Aw damnit! Argg! I liked this shirt!" The man cried as he stared at his ripped shirt.

"A-are you ok, sir?" Nodoka asked as she moved towards him.

Suddenly he looked up and their eyes met. His were transfixed, glossed over in a hazy sort of adoration. Hers were simply confused. "A-are you alright?" She repeated.

"Ye-yeah…" came the reply.

"Here… let me help you up… wh-who are you?" She asked as she moved towards him.

"Genma Saotome… but… No, no trouble…I'm um… I'm really late! I'd better be going! Sorry to bother you!" He exclaimed.

With that, he stood and bounded to the wall, then up and over the wall and out of sight.

Nodoka had been shocked and amazed to say the least… and that was not her last encounter with Genma Saotome.

* * *

"So what do you think?" Ryaine asked her mother again. 

Snapping from her reverie Nodoka looked to her daughter and answered. "It's not important daughter. What is important is that you're going to be late for your date."

"EEK!" Ryaine shrieked. "Bye mom!"

With that, another red-head sped away from the Saotome Home.

Nodoka sighed and watched as the sun finally moved below the horizon. "Ranma… was that you?" She asked herself.

* * *

Ranma followed Genma's tracks into the woods until she found herself stumbling towards a recently made camp. Suddenly, she was ambushed. 

"Foolish boy! Don't you know your own weight? You should have known that branch would snap!" The signs flew at Ranma as he caught and read them one by one.

"Aw come on pops! It's not everyday someone finds out they have a sister!" Ranma exclaimed.

"That girl is NOT your sister!" The next volley of signs read.

Ranma looked at father skeptically as she weaved in and out of his barrage of signs. "Pops… I'm sorry but it looks to me like mom found herself another man." Ranma said plainly.

"RRROOWWWRRRR!" Genma roared. Suddenly an enormous vacuum blade erupted from Genma's slicing hand.

Ranma yelped for a moment before the blade narrowly missed her. "Pops! Pops settle down! Forbidden remember? Forbi-ACK!" Ranma exclaimed as she dodged three more along with no less then seven signs.

Ranma turned to face the panda again, only to find him holding her shirt lifting her into the air to his level. She wasn't sure how it happened but a sign floated behind him saying simply, in bolded capital words "TAKE THAT BACK!"

"Ok! Ok! Pops! I take it back!" Ranma said in a defensive and worried position. Ranma knew that she could have defeated her father yet again… he was letting excessive anger control his attacking. Ranma had done it herself on occasion, but she didn't think she had ever seen her father so angry.

Genma sighed and his burning eyes lightened. He lowered his daughter to the ground. "Ranma… Do-"

"I know pops… don't lose your control… it happens. For what it's worth… sorry." Ranma apologized as she put down the sign he was holding up.

Genma turned and hobbled away into a darker portion of the woods. Suddenly Ranma intercepted another sign that read. "What else do I have to teach you boy?"

Ranma looked into the shaded wood where her father was surely hiding. She sighed, dejectedly. "She is related to me though… her name… is Saotome." Ranma said into the forest.

The sound of a Panda weeping was quite possibly the most saddening and odd sound that Ranma had ever heard.

"Pop… come on… maybe… it's possible that… that… I…" Ranma stopped there. Her words were not consoling. They never had been and she knew it.

An hour later, Genma came out of the forest, into the campsite where Ranma had been training in the use of Umi-sen-ken.

She attacked him instantly, giving him something else to put his mind on. Genma smiled at his child, though she didn't know it. They fought longer and harder then they ever had before, causing many a tree to fall and many a branch to snap.

* * *

It was late in the night and one Genma Saotome was sneaking. He had a plan. It was a good plan if he could pull it off. All in all Genma wasn't very smart. But when he needed something… something as vital as the knowledge that his wife had betrayed him or not… he could be a genius. All he had to do was create a few records… If he could do that… then maybe… 

The computer terminal was old and under used. Fortunately it worked just fine. The hospital was not too old. Ranma had been born there but in Genma's day, it hadn't existed. Viewing the computerized records of the place's child births he found exactly what he was looking for.

_Ranma Saotome: Male_

_Born: May 21, 1982._

_Son of:_

_Father: Genma Saotome_

_And_

_Mother: Nodoka Saotome_

Genma smiled. He was glad he had remembered the password and username of the old doctor that had deliver his son…

Within the system he created a new child that had allegedly been born. A fake child that had never truly existed. It took a while due to the fact that typing with paws was rather difficult but he did it none the less.

_Miruka Haisu: Female_

_Born: May 21, 1982._

_Daughter of:_

_Father: Keno Haisu_

_And_

_Mother: Areyka Haisu._

His job at the hospital done, he moved onward to a funeral home. Creating new records, (Which luckily for him were kept on paper this time) of death of Areyka Haisu.

_Areyka Haisu  
Born: June 24, 1964 - Died: June 17, 1983.  
Buried: June 21, 1983  
at  
Nerima's Cemetary_

Genma smiled at himself.

The police station was a place he preferred to not be. But it was necessary.

_Missing Persons Report:_

_Filed: July 12th, 1984._

_Two person(s) have been reported missing. Their home has been left untouched for the last three months and the whereabouts of said person(s) are unknown. These person(s) are Keno Haisu and Miruka Haisu. This parent and daughter have disappeared without a trace._

Genma had to look at several other missing person reports before he considered his faked missing person's report was elaborate enough. There were, fortunately, a few missing person reports without photographs. If it became important then someone would find simply a less than detailed missing person's report. Now if someone REALLY looked into it then Ranma would be in trouble.

Genma just hoped that didn't happen.

* * *

Morning came as it always does. This morning was a bright and shiny one. It didn't reflect Genma's mood very well but Ranma was quite happy. She had finally mastered most of the forms of the Yami-sen-ken. Now all she had to do was integrate the style in with her own and blend attacks from it with ones from her current repertoire and her mastery of it would be complete. 

"Ranma." Genma wrote. "I have plan."

Ranma stopped in a joking state of utter shock.

"Oh it's not that amazing… I've come up with a few before." Genma signed to his daughter's shocked face. "Now, here's what we're going to do. You have to go to school."

"School… But… I haven't… I don't need anything they teach there!" Ranma exclaimed.

Genma had sent Ranma to an all-boy's-school once upon a time, long ago. The boy had to have at least a little brains in him. Six years Ranma had been taken around, changing schools whenever it had become apparent that Ranma was becoming too connected. Fortunately, Ranma had always been a fast learner. In six weeks a seven year old Ranma learned how to read, write, add, subtract, multiply, and divide. In another six, at a different school of course, he had learned preliminary algebra and had gained an articulate vocabulary, along with slight knowledge of science applications.

But Ranma had not returned to a school since his fourteenth birthday, when he had left for China.

"Well, Ranma I can think of no better way to get you in touch with that girl. So… last night I did some tampering. I got you some records. If you don't mind wearing another name… at least for a little while…?" Genma told his daughter.

"I… I guess pop." Ranma said sullenly.

Genma's eyes lit up but no signs appeared. What did appear, however, was a piece of paper with a lot of writing on it.

"My name is Miruka Haisu?" Ranma asked. "Where'd you come up with that?"

A sign appeared in Genma's hand that said "Made it up."

"My mom died when I was little so when I was two my father took me on a sixteen year training trip in China." Ranma read aloud. "Not too much of it was a lie pops!"

She read on.

"On the way my father taught me all this academic skills that I know…" Ranma read. "Ok… now you're pushin' it…"

"Ranma… please?" Genma asked. The begging in his eyes told Ranma just how much he wanted to know what had become of his wife.

Ranma sighed. "You owe me father."

"I know son… I shouldn't… have to send you to school as a girl but…" Genma wrote. He resented having to express his grief in written word but he had no choice. At least he was becoming a master of penmanship…

* * *

An hour later and in her best clothing, which was a Chinese shirt and slick baggy pants, found Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial arts, walking to school. She was in a much more angry and sad mood than she had been that morning. 

"New body… new name… I'm probably way more girly now than I ever was before… damnit… why does kami so desperately want me to be a girl?" Ranma mumbled to herself. After a moment of wondering, she thought, "How in the world do I know what "desperately" means?"

Unbeknownst to her, another shimmering golden tear slid down her cheek and onto the concrete below the fence upon which she walked. Sooner or later she decided that the people staring at her probably were beginning to think she was weird, so she hopped down from the fence… just in time to be caught with a splash of water from an elderly lady, holding a ladle, throwing water into the street.

"Just my luck…" Ranma thought.

Suddenly someone behind her began laughing.

"Ah ha ha ha! That old lady never fails to catch you, does she Ryaine?" came a soft, melodic voice.

Ranma turned and was greeted with a face about her age, perhaps a little younger. Blackish-blue waist length hair hung behind her, and her smile was genuinely breath-taking.

"I'… I'm not Ryaine." Ranma sputtered out.

"Oh REALLY!" The girl asked sarcastically. "Then who ARE you?"

Ranma, noticing the girl's playful mood, felt annoyed at being un-believed. "I'm Ra-er Miruka. Do I know you?" She asked in an up-ish sort of tone.

"Cute… so… did you get splashed again this morning Ra-er Miruka?" The girl asked still playfully. "I gotta admit, though. You're taking this ruse a long way. I don't think I've ever seen such a horrible outfit on a girl in my life…"

"Ain't nothin' wrong with my clothes." Ranma said. And with that, she stomped off towards the school.

The black haired girl was left speechless. Then, snapping from her shock, she tried to catch up with the girl whom she thought was her young genius friend.

"Yo! Wait up! Hey!" Ranma heard her cry as she ran to catch up.

"Ry-Ryaine? What's wrong with you?" The girl asked as she walked beside Ranma briskly.

"You! I already told you, I'm not Ryaine." Ranma said angrily. "I'm Miruka."

Suddenly as they approached the school, a shout occurred. "Hi Akane! I- I-it's YOU!" Ryaine cried as she ran stopped next to them.

"Yeah… Nice… to meet you too!" Ranma said sardonically to the younger version of herself.

Meanwhile, Akane, ever since seeing Ryaine approach, looked back and forth between the two in a shocked sort of way. "W-wow… Ryaine… er… um… Miruka… sorry about, well… uh. You know." Akane mumbled.

"No problem." Ranma replied. "Um… now… if you don't mind me askin'… who are you?"

"Eheh… I'm… I'm Akane Tendo of the Tendo School of Anything Goes Martial Arts!" Akane exclaimed cheerfully.

Ranma's eyes widened.

"…Can you repeat that?" Ranma asked as she twitched.

"Te-tendo School, Anything Goes… Martial Arts?" Akane replied making it sound more like a question then a title.

"I… I see…" Ranma said intelligently.

Suddenly a chorus of shouts arose, with the name Akane Tendo rolling through the air like a repetitive song. It was a very bad song, too.

"You two better step back." Akane said suddenly. Then, she charged into an oncoming crowd of what appeared to be young men screaming. "I… HATE… BOYS!"

Ranma felt odd thinking it but she somehow couldn't help it. She knew she wasn't very high on this sort of totem pole as well but her thoughts were something akin to, "How… immature…" The bad thing about it was Ranma wasn't sure if she was referring to Akane or the boys… Probably the boys though.

Also, knowing that immature was yet another word she would have never learned to understand, had she not been transformed, she sighed and walked forward over mounds of disabled bodies.

"I agree." came her own voice from right next to her.

"Huh?" Ranma replied.

"How immature…" Ryaine said suddenly.

"H… how did y-?" Ranma asked suddenly but was interrupted.

"Your face looked just like mine usually does. You're unlucky. They chase me too so I'm sure they'll mistake you for me. I'm Ryaine by the way since we haven't met formally yet. It's Nice to meet you!" Ranma's look-a-like told her.

"I'm Ranma." Ranma replied, shaking her hand firmly.

To say Ryaine was shocked would be akin to saying that a supernova was pretty powerful.

Ranma, who, in truth, was Ranma and not Miruka, didn't catch her mistake at all. She walked into the school, never noticing her shocked sister's face.

* * *

Ryoga Hibiki was in a state of pure and utter calm. He ran through his katas the same way he had two years before. His muscles were stronger. Apparently, training in his little pig form to create strength had ten-folded his current ability. Ryoga wasn't certain of this of course. It could easily be something else… but Ryoga doubted it. 

"Oh RYYOOOOOGA!" came the soothing, sultry, seductive voice of his lover. After three days of almost constant… ahem… payback, Ryoga had finally gotten the time to train. And here the girl was, interrupting again… how in the hell was he supposed to get his revenge on the Red-haired girl and ESPECIALLY Ranma Saotome if this girl kept constantly seducing him?

How?

…Girls really were a distraction to the art… just like his father had told him when he was nine years old.

"Yes, Makiri?" Ryoga replied annoyed.

Makiri, who had edged around it for almost every time she had asked, decided to put it bluntly this time. "Do me."

Ryoga's eyes widened as her outer clothing simply disappeared. Ryoga sighed. He was beginning to ache down there…

The first time, about three days ago when Ryoga had lost his virginity, He had been clumsy and not very good at making his lover happy. Now he was a seasoned master and it annoyed him. She had made fun of him, saying that no matter his size, he had no skill and was a pathetic lover.

Needless to say, he had proven her wrong and now the girl wouldn't leave him alone!

"Can't I just… you know… go now!" Ryoga asked.

"No." Makiri replied simply. "I… I'm really sorry about this… you've actually got me on the rebound… my boyfriend dropped me when he found out I could use magic." The girl said sadly, talking seriously for the first time in Ryoga's memory.

Suddenly she began to cry. "I'm… I'm really sorry… but… could you please… just…"

Ryoga hugged the poor girl. He personally had never been dumped… but he SO hated to see girls cry.

"I'm… uh… sorry?" He whispered in what he hoped was a consoling way.

She just made his shoulder wetter. With that, Ryoga, being the gentleman that he was, tried a different approach.

"If it would make you happy… I could… stay with you…? At least until you get over… whoever it was who left you? Would… that hel"  
She kissed him full on the lips, locking her eyes with his.

After an eternity or two, they left each other and Makiri whispered… "Th-thank you.."

She walked away slowly, back towards the tent that they had both been sleeping in.

Ryoga was left wondering whether her answer was "yes" or "no."

* * *

"My name is Miruka Haisu. I've been in China for the past sixteen years and have trained all of my life in martial arts. That's all." Ranma said, repeating the same thing she had told the registration office that very morning. They had believed her quickly and when she provided signed information from Keno Haisu… her "father" she was let into school with a schedule quite quickly. While she was reprimanded about the school uniform, Ranma simply replied that if she were made to wear a uniform she would attend elsewhere. Somehow, her sternness had silenced the secretaries. 

Most of the class was simply stunned at the similarities between the new girl and Ryaine.

"You can… sit next to… Ryaine, Miruka." the teacher said through her own shock.

Ryaine was staring at Miruka. Fortunately their seats were in the middle of the room, close to the back so when Ryaine slipped Ranma a note, the teacher didn't notice. "My mother always told me I had a brother named Ranma… who are you Miruka?" Ryaine asked.

Ranma sighed as she thought back on her dumb slip. First day and she had already messed up beyond repair.

Ranma sent back an equally important message asking simply. "Who is your father?"

Ryaine looked at him for a moment, confused. Then she simply replied in writing. "My mom always told me it was a man named Genma Saotome. But, not too long ago she told me that…well… she was ra… She… unwillingly participated in sexual acts which led to me. Who are you?"

Ranma felt a huge relief lift from her shoulders. Genma wouldn't be depressed anymore. True he'd be angry and probably take it out on her but that was much better than depressed.

"It's a long story." Ranma's message replied. "Tell you during lunch. I'm Ranma… Ranma Saotome."

Ryaine eyes widened again but she nodded.

With that, Miruka's head hit the desk and she fell asleep tuning out the droning of the teacher, mimicking half the class.

Ryaine watched her, disapprovingly.

* * *

**End Chapter **

* * *

Hello! Enjoy this Chapter! I hope you do. And if so (or not) Please **leave a review!  
**

**Next Chapter: Beginnings of a Triangle  
**


	4. Beginnings of a Triangle

Thank you for all the reviews on chapter two! Here is the next chapter! And don't worry… next chap of "So Be It" is on it's way. Enjoy! 

**Tears**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Beginnings of a Triangle**

* * *

"Alright." Ryaine exclaimed angrily as she sat down next to the other girl who looked so similar to her. "Who are you?" 

Ranma's little cook pot sat above a makeshift fire with some rice and water inside it, boiling. She sighed again and looked at her sister. "Well, to start off with… apparently you're my little sister." Ranma said calmly.

"But… My mom told me I have a _brother_!" Ryaine burst out, almost angrily.

Ranma glanced around at a few stares in their direction but said nothing. Then, she turned to her irate sister and said simply, "I am what I am."

Ryaine looked at her skeptically. "I _think_ my mom would know if she had a baby _girl_ instead of a _boy_!"

"I'm a gi-…" Ranma began but then stopped abruptly, shoving her hand over her mouth, violently. "I almost just said it…" She whispered, to herself in a frightened, terrified tone.

Ryaine raised an eyebrow at Ranma's odd behavior. "Ah… hey are you ok?" She asked.

Ranma chuckled in a slightly mad way. "Heh… heh heh… o… kay…? I haven't been _okay_ in two years!" She exclaimed.

"Wha-what is wrong?" Ryaine asked, frightened.

Ranma shook her head madly and then slapped herself in the face, painfully, a few times. After that she appeared to look somewhat normal.

"I… I'm fine… I'm sorry. I'm… well we, me'n Pops that is… we're not… what we used to be…" Ranma said sadly.

As Ranma again, began to tend to the rice, Ryaine stared at the girl, confused by her sudden lapse into what appeared to be insanity.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Ryaine asked, concerned.

"Not until I'm normal again…" was Ranma's solemn reply. "I… well… I can't ever accept it but I'm… getting used to it"  
Suddenly someone approached.

"Hiya! Um… Ryaine, I was wondering if you were planning on sitting with us or just… staying here?" Akane asked, trailing off as she noticed Ranma's red eyes. "Miruka can… come too, if you want?"

"I… I'm okay here." Ranma replied and then turned back to the rice, which appeared to be done finally.

"Suit yourself. You coming Ryaine?" Akane asked.

Ryaine, who had never taken her eyes off of Ranma, said, "You go on… I'll catch up."

"Kay! See ya!" Akane exclaimed, and then rocketed off towards another tree where a few girls were gathered.

"Y-you should go." Ranma said as she finally began to consume her meal. Ryaine only now noticed that the meal Ranma was cooking appeared to be for at least four people. "Are you… eating with someone else?"

"N-no… pops can take care of himself." Ranma replied.

This answer only made things more confusing for Ryaine. Normal Again? Pops? I am what I am? What did it all mean? Nothing was making any sense!

"I'm not leaving till you tell me what it is that you're edging around!" Ryaine said in what she thought was a defiant tone.

"You won't believe me." Ranma replied.

"Try me." was Ryaine's sharp retort.

…

"Well?"

"No." Ranma replied.

The bell rang.

* * *

It was late night… somewhere between the hours of eleven and four. All was covered in shade… all was dark. Nothing could be seen or heard for miles in this region at this time, save for the crickets, buzzing their hereditary tunes.

Far above this, miles upon miles into the sky, a luxury airliner was flying. Its passengers were asleep, and the flight was smooth.

The flight was bound for somewhere in Australia, but at the moment, was headed for Hong Kong to re-fuel. The Pilot was awake and alert as he always was when on a flight. He truly disliked auto pilot and, unless his co-pilot was not flying the plane, he would not sleep.

This night, his alertness did not help him.

Miles below lay something that had not touched Earth's soil before. It landed there three weeks prior to this time. It lay there within that foggy, dreary region.

It was a seed.

However, it was not just any seed. This seed was special… It had fallen three weeks previous and been imbedded into the ground through a sort of… pollination.

This seed came from the tear of a young, red-haired girl. And what was soon to grow from it… would belong to her and her alone.

Suddenly the darkness and gloom below the plane brightened with a blinding white flash. The pilot, miles up in the sky, was blinded. People hundreds of miles away saw the light but fortunately it was in a rather remote place.

What happened next would awe the eyes of the world.

Suddenly the plane's back end was buffeted upward, causing he front end to point downward. This, in itself, caused a stall, leaving the plane rocketing downwards. The pilot was scared shitless. Before him, was not open air… no… he was falling through branches… tree branches. Thousands of them, millions crushed under the mighty weight of the plane. Branches that were not a mere hand width thick… These were a foot to two feet thick at least, and the plain floated through them, sliding off each enormous branch and onto the next. Suddenly the plane burst into free air again after almost two minute of bumpy, branch crunching flight.

Both wings had been ripped away, and they were still over a mile high.

"Oh my god…" Said the co-pilot as he felt a crawling sensation in the pit of his stomach as the last of their lift left them.

An explosion occurred in the Quing Hai Province of China that night. It wasn't as bright as the burst of light had been. However, it did mean something important. It signaled the world of something that was about to happen. Something… was about to change…

* * *

Ranma walked away from the school building, angered at her slips. Today had been a horrible day. The sister she had was now angered at her for being illusive. She had cried again. Damn it all! Why did that stupid girl have to talk about having a brother like that?

Now Ranma felt like she'd let her sister down.

Suddenly, something different happened.

The ground rumbled.

Ranma wobbled about for a moment, unsure of what was going on. Then the ground rumbled again.

Ranma teetered around for a moment on the sidewalk, wondering why in the hell the ground was moving. Did Japan have earthquakes?

Suddenly, a crack formed in the sidewalk. It was an odd bulge at the far end of the side walk, next to the road. The cracks split upward, shifting the stone and cracking the concrete.

"What the...?" Ranma thought.

And then, all hell broke loose.

It happened faster than Ranma could see. It erupted like a volcano. It appeared to look just like wooden, brown, solid lava bursting forth from the ground as fast a lightning.

The concrete was lifted up around it, and Ranma who stood atop the concrete, was lifted with it, which sent her catapulting away from the middle of the eruption, flipping under the piece of concrete. The concrete tile, which flew away with her earlier, rocketed over her, pushing her into the ground. Ground which, unfortunately for Ranma, was also concrete. Ranma landed on her shoulder and scraped along the rocky ground until she slammed her burned back into a wall.

"AAAH!" came her cry.

She winced and moaned at the gut splitting pain in her right shoulder and upper back. Looking back she knew that much of her skin had been "rug burned" off.

Suddenly what was happening registered to Ranma. It was a tree. A gigantic tree. It was already as high as at least seven stories and climbing higher. Leaves were popping out all over it and it was growing wider at the top. Hundreds of branches… no… thousands… The leaves, some normal sized and some the size of stop signs appearing, were all colored an eerie looking blue. The tree grew higher still, blasting forth at a speed Ranma didn't think possible.

It was then that Ranma noticed something horrible.

"AAHHHHG! WHAT THE HELL!" came a horrified scream, barely audible as the sound of creaking and expanding wood ensnared Ranma's ears.

"Oh no…" Ranma thought.

Ranma didn't even think about it. She jumped into the sky with a speed that at the very least, matched that of the climbing tree. She landed on the lowest branch but that quickly changed as the branches moved upward with more expanding below.

Ranma leapt again to another higher branch.

High above her, miles it seemed, Ranma just saw a body disappear within the mass of growing leaves now clogging her vision.

"H-HELP! OH God HELP…!" The voice screamed, this time horribly loud to Ranma, as she was moving upward fast enough for the sound to perfectly reach her ears.

Ranma was now high in the sky… higher than she ever had been, yet her target was higher still. She jumped to the next branch. It was simple to do since the branches were at least foot thick… at most three or four. She leapt and leapt, ever higher to reach the person stuck in the tree.

As she climbed the branches began to get smaller, the fast speed at which she was traveling up caused her to slip on one of the branches.

"Eek!" She exclaimed. She caught to another branch and was immediately stung by the whiplash of being instantly pulled upward into the air.

Breathing at her slip, Ranma happened to chance a glance back downward.

She was at least two miles high and could not see around the base of the tree…

"God… this thing is…" Ranma muttered in awe.

The tree was at least fifty feet wide in diameter from the spot where she was looking directly at the trunk! How wide must it be at the bottom?

"Oh my god…" Ranma thought as she looked down. She couldn't see past the endless downward spiral of branches.

"STOHhhh…! STOHhhh… STOHhhp STOP! I WA… OFF! Le… lemme down!" Came the scream. It sounded hoarse, creaky… as if there was a problem with the person's breath.

Ranma was much closer now, she knew. Suddenly her breath left her. She sucked air in but it did not appear to be entering her mouth!

Choking for a moment, Ranma got a few small gulps of air and continued traveling upward, breathing with difficulty.

She looked up again. The wind rushed down beside her, blowing into her eyes as she squinted to see.

There it was. Her target. It was a boy, taller than her. But he was squeezed around a tree branch so tightly; Ranma didn't know what she would do to get the boy off. He appeared to have a large gash on the left of his forehead and had experienced multiple bruising.

"Probably from falling from the very top of the tree…" Ranma thought.

Ranma jumped eleven or twelve more branches up to where the boy was, landing next to him on an abnormally small branch, when compared with the rest of them.

"HEY! Huhh, huhh…. ARE YOU eeshp… huhh… sssiip, huhh O-OK?" Ranma shouted, trying to make herself heard over all the wind rushing past them, whist also trying to breathe. Something was wrong with the air up this high, and It was becoming colder… much colder… Ridding herself of the fear in her stomach when she looked down, Ranma shouted again, "ARE YO… huff… YOU… OK?"

The boy opened his eyes for a moment and glanced at her.

"H… help me..!" He sort of, stuttered and screamed.

"Let go…. Huhh… sssiip… of the branch!" Ranma breathed. "You got… huhh… sssiip… you gotta let go!" Ranma exclaimed, her breathing becoming more ragged.

The boy opened his mouth and instantly began sucking for every last drop of air. The air pressure was leaving them… just how HIGH were they?

Suddenly the tree picked up speed, making Ranma feel heavy under the increased upward pressure. To her it felt exactly like being in an elevator only a hundred fold.

Ranma grabbed the boy and pulled.

"Insah… Insane!" The boy screamed at her, though it came out as more of a barely audible whisper.

Ranma gave a hard yank, which proved to be the wrong thing to do… The tree came to a screeching halt and Ranma and the boy, with Ranma's yank, were ejected even higher into the sky blasting out like a cannon ball, tearing through the slim branches of the top and flying out and over the tree line.

She hurtled upward, away from the tree which was now, not growing up, but expanding outward. But she was moving far away from the tree… miles away from it.

Ranma looked as they rose, moving at just under the speed of sound. Her ascent was smooth and fulfilling though her breath was ragged. Air was not present here. But the site was the view of a lifetime…

Above her was, not the sky, but it was blackness. Sparkling stars littered the look of the night in a celestial beauty that had never been viewed save for sparse moments in a space shuttle. The stars were bright, brighter than stars had ever been to her before, even in the middle of China in the darkest of night.

Almost a six _miles_ below her lay an ocean. It stretched around her, as far as the eye could see! Clouds. A sea of clouds. It seemed like an endless ocean of white puffy clouds, completely covering the entirety of the ground from Ranma's sight.

Behind her there was an island. It was not truly and island but it was the Tree that had just propelled her to this height. It swayed gently… a smooth, green tree top, just above the clouds, at least in the sky, expanding every further, growing outward to make it wider… Ranma could not possibly know its diameter but her guess would have been that the tree was over four miles wide… and growing. It was enormous.

To her front was the sun, appearing as a brightened, yellow causeway, lighting the beautiful sea below her with visible rays of shine and glimmer that caused the clouds below her to sparkle with a hazy, misty glow. It hung with half of it beneath the clouds, as the clouds went on in a curved formation circling the globe, making the sun appear as if it were setting into the horizon, when truly it was only three hours past mid-day.

Ranma, between her awe and her desperate battle for the tidbits of oxygen in the air, not to mention the frozen state of the air she move in, wondered just how HIGH they truly were.

Ranma and her companion reached the peak of their accent in a sort of awe that had never truly crossed their faces in their life times. The air to scream with was not present; both held their mouths shut as the wonders of the highest point in nature were revealed to them.

And then began the decent.

A hellish downward travel into that sea of clouds.

They fell fast and they fell hard, like cement blocks.

"WHOOSH!" Hurtling downward, this time at well over the speed of sound, they felt the frozen air scarring their skin, freezing their clothing, and stiffening their bones. Ranma tried to scream but no words came out as decompression and the freezing air of well over fifty thousand feet between her and sea level swirled around her.

Ranma did not notice the sea engulf them as they fell into the clouds, flailing about like two fish out of water. But she did notice when it became colder. The freezing it was before was nothing to now, the completely artic desolation that surrounded her every cell.

Ranma did her best to find some way… some possible way to keep herself alive. But she knew there was no use. There was simply no way she could survive this tremendous fall. She would be dead, long before she hit the ground.

She would be dead before she could see the ground. The skin on her shoulder burned like wildfire. The blood that had previously been there was now frozen and the wind rushing, causing freezing friction, scraped her skin like a million razor blades, slicing every inch of her body.

Her clothes were destroyed by the wind, ripped off her body, leaving her and her companion free to the razor like winds to slash them to bits.

As she fell, slowly, her eyes closed, consciousness on the verge of leaving her.

"I'm going to die…" Ranma thought as the last of her consciousness began to abandon her.

And suddenly two warm arms wrapped around her…

Ranma was too cold to see what in the world was going on. Her eyes were frozen shut… her heart frozen to a halt and she had no way of telling what in the world was happening to her.

Consciousness did not leave her, yet, however.

Her mouth moved as she still fell, feeling ever colder. She asked, through a shivering and frozen voice, "Who?"

Ranma's reply was a chuckle. "Ryaine! Don't you know your own boyfriend? And… have your breasts gotten bigger?"

Had Ranma been in a state where her every thought was not concerned with the warmth the person was providing, she would have realized that she was not Ryaine.

He appeared to be freefalling with his feet pointed towards the ground without a care in the world. Had Ranma been in a state where her every though was not on getting rid of the hellish stinging of free falling from several odd thousands of feet into the air, she would have realized that this _should_ be impossible.

The man forced her into a warmer, curled position in his arms, with her knees to her chest, her entire body cuddled into his. Had Ranma been in a state where her every thought was not concerned with fighting off the hypothermia, stopping the glacial numbing from freezing her very blood and bones, she would have cared.

Unfortunately that was not the case. She had no chose but to move as close to the man as she could.

"S…sso… so c-c-c… cold…" Ranma whispered, begging the artic chills to abate and finding a small bit of solace in the warm strong arms that caressed her. Air returned to her, and it began to feel warmer. Truly it was no longer so cold that she could not survive but the frozen airs of thirty thousand feet above were still stinging her.

Ranma didn't know how but she could _feel_ the man smile at her as her teeth chattered endlessly.

"Mma- mm- maa make it… st-sto… stop…" Ranma begged.

Her solace finally reached her in the form of unconsciousness.

The young boy, whom Ranma had tried to rescue, froze completely on his way down… Upon impact with the concrete, he shattered into a million, icy, frozen fragments. Ranma, however, never touched the ground.

* * *

Ranma awoke slowly, her muscles sore and still enormously chilled. Her back ached, her neck ached, and she had a headache… not the most pleasant way to awake.

-Blink-

Damn it was bright… Headache just got worse…

-Blink- -Blink-

"Soo… bright…!" She muttered angrily.

Slowly, she finally managed to open her eyes entirely. She tried to rise, which proved to be a big mistake as her shoulder burned like hell.

"Finally awake, beautiful?" Came a most definitely male voice, though from where the voice came, Ranma couldn't tell. The ringing in her ears made it seem like the voice was everywhere.

Ranma merely moaned. She glanced around and saw that she was in what appeared to be a living room. She lay on a bed that was actually a pulled out couch. All in all she was very comfy… or at least, she would have been if she didn't feel like she had just been through a washing machine.

"Is that a yes?" The sarcastic man said.

"Yeeees…" Ranma moaned, making it clearly evident that she wished her answer was no. Suddenly, sense came back to her numbed skin. And her sense told her that something was around her. The man who'd been speaking to her was lying with her in the bed. "GAK!" She exclaimed angrily as she jumped up. "Get offa me, freak!" She shouted though it came out much more hoarsely than she wished.

Suddenly she realized just how sore she was as her back creaked and her sore bones made her legs give out under her weight. "Ee!" She exclaimed as she fell towards the floor backwards.

The man moved as fast as her father, catching her with a skilled ease that should not have been possible. His hand snaked around her back, holding her facing up to him.

"Ryaine? Ah… I um… I'm sorry?" The man said.

Ranma's eyes came into focus as he cradled her, looking up towards the man. Broad face and shoulders, well toned and very… very… used to fighting. His arms looked as strong as Ranma remembered hers to be when… when she was not a she. His eyes were a hazy green and his hair was dark black.

She was shocked. What was this? What… what… was happening? Her heart rate picked up… her knees felt weak… what in the _fucking_ hell was she doing!

Yet even so… she didn't respond... Nor did she even glare at the man.

Her brain was working miles a minute trying desperately to figure out why this man's head was not three feet into the ground. "Kill him! Break his head open! Punch him into the stratosphere!" Her mind told her.

The more rational side of her mind gave her the reason. "He saved your life from said stratosphere and then again from an even more massive headache when he caught you!"

"… DAMN! KILL HIM NOW!" screamed the male half of her mind, at her body.

It wasn't meant to be, however...

"Ryaine?" The man asked.

"Uh… I'm… I'm not… I… eheh… I'm not…" Ranma replied nervously under his gaze...

"What the hell are you doing? Stuttering like some _girl!_" she mentally berated herself. Then she looked in his eyes again and again felt the same nervous feeling. Weakness in her knees and an uncannily fast heart rate.

"This is sick..." She screamed at herself. "You're a guy!" Yet still she could not bring herself to move.

"Nathan!" Came an excited voice.

Ranma blanched. This... wasn't good.

"NATHAN come out here! Come out here NOW! You HAVE to see this! You have to…" And Ryaine appeared right around corner and stared directly at her boyfriend… who currently held Ranma from falling to the ground… A very naked Ranma.

"… wha…?" the man, now known to Ranma as Nathan, muttered looking back and forth from the girl in his hands to the girl in his arms.

"Uh… Ryaine?" He asked Ranma.

Ranma blushed, all the while, mentally begging herself to clobber this idiot. "Eheh… I'm Ranma… Ranma Saotome… sorry bout' this…. Heh…"

* * *

**End Chapter**

* * *

And there, my good friends, is your desired cliffhanger. Like? Heh.. Yes I know this was a dramatized skydiving scene. Well. I hope you enjoy! Oh and by the way.

Reviews are as precious to me as diamonds…. Well… heh heh. No they aren't… but at least as precious as sapphires or rubies so if you could leave one it would make my day OH SOO much better!


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